


(The Guy at) No.12

by thewriterpoe



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 05:20:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3838588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewriterpoe/pseuds/thewriterpoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonghyun knows a lot about Kibum only because the man refuses to use his blinds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(The Guy at) No.12

     Jonghyun groaned as he toed off his shoes at the entrance to his apartment. It had been a particularly long shift at the radio station and he was looking forward to vegging out on the couch and watching Cartoon Network. He didn’t even bother switching on the lights as he made his way to the kitchen.

     Suddenly he stopped and backtracked to hide behind the leather sectional he found at a consignment store. He had left his blinds open and could see across to no. 12 where the lavender haired resident was standing in the middle of the living space with his pretty boy boyfriend. From the looks of it, they were having a fight; and if no.12’s wild hand gestures and the boyfriend’s irritated yet vacant expression were any indication, it was a bad one.

     Jonghyun was just about to decide on whether to just go to bed hungry or risk the fighting couple seeing him when he heard the slamming of a door. He peeked over from behind the couch and saw that no.12 was standing alone in the apartment. His back was to the window and his shoulders were shaking. Jonghyun knew that the other man was crying. Again.

     Jonghyun knew a lot about his neighbor even though they hadn’t actually met; they’d exchanged polite greetings in the lobby before Jonghyun started his graveyard shift at the radio station but nothing more.

     Jonghyun knew what cereal the other man liked – ‘Life’ or any rice grain cereal. He knew what shows the other man liked – music and cooking competitions. He even knew what sex position got the other man off quickly – the reverse cowboy. You see, no. 12 rarely used his blinds, almost as though he even didn’t know he had blinds. Jonghyun thinks it’s because his own apartment had been vacant for a while before he moved in so there hadn’t been a need to use the blinds. Besides, no. 6, Jonghyun’s apartment was always dark when other apartments were lighted up, so it’d be easy to assume that no one lived there. He could have just told no.12 about his blinds but that would have been totally awkward since Jonghyun had probably seen more of the man than the other would care to have revealed. Besides, Jonghyun was a bit of a voyeur especially since his social life was just about non-existent.

     Jonghyun woke up to find that he had fallen asleep on the couch. The first thing he did was look over to no. 12 but there was no one in the living room. He headed to his kitchen for something to eat and groaned when he realized he’d have to go to the mart around the corner because he was out of milk and eggs. He grabbed a box of Cheerios anyway and shoveled the round cereal in his mouth. It wasn’t ideal but he was starving. Plus it would prevent him from buying up all of aisle 4 when he finally got around to going to the mart.

     He was at the end of the cereal box and the episode of Tom and Jerry when out of the corner of his eye he saw movement in the apartment across from him. No. 12 was in his underwear, dancing to some music being piped in through some generic headphones. He must have resolved his fight with his boyfriend, Jonghyun thought glumly. But then he saw the half empty bottle of whiskey on the coffee table and the glass in no.12’s hand and thought maybe not. With both their blinds drawn open, they could see into each other’s homes but no. 12 must not have noticed Jonghyun because he continued dancing.

     Jonghyun wondered what song it was the other man was using to get over last night’s fight. From his vigorous singing or lip syncing (Jonghyun couldn’t hear either way) Jonghyun could make out the words ‘la, la, la’. Jonghyun was pretty sure the song was on repeat because he didn’t know of any song that was fifteen minutes long. Somewhere in that time, the song stopped being a distraction and became an enjoyment because no.12 was smiling – genuinely smiling. Something touched Jonghyun when he saw that smile. It was like childhood all over: running with the breeze, swimming in the sea, eating fruit from the tree; he eyes just about disappeared with that smile.

     No. 12 suddenly stopped smiling and Jonghyun realized it was because the other had just noticed him gaping at him. The other man’s face was becoming an alarming shade of red and Jonghyun could feel a tinge of color on his own cheeks. He was caught and all he could do was offer a sheepish grin to no. 12’s mask of embarrassment. The sound of his phone saved him from the awkward situation. He frowned deeply when he saw the name flashing on the call ID. It was his friend, Choi Minho, who definitely knew that Jonghyun was usually asleep at this time of day.

     “What?” Jonghyun answered. He looked towards no. 12. The room was empty although he thought he spotted a bit of color peeking from behind the wall.

     “Well good morning to you too,” Minho bristled.

     “It’s two in the afternoon,” Jonghyun grumbled.

     “Anyway, who is the bestest friend in the whole world?” Minho continued bubbling with excitement.

     “Well, clearly not you since you completely disregard my sleeping schedule.”

     “Whine, whine, whine. I just got you a date with…”

     “Goodbye, Minho.”

     “No, wait…”

     Jonghyun hang up. He had had enough of Minho’s match making schemes. You’d think that after eight years of friendship he’d know Jonghyun’s style but the man kept hooking him up with people that, in fact, matched Minho’s style to the tee. The last straw was when Minho actually introduced Jonghyun to his ex – the ‘crazy’ ex he had heard of for six months but never actually met till that awful blind date. Jonghyun would have been really angry with Minho if he had been asleep but since he was already up and still hungry, he decided to make the trek to the mart around the corner.

     Jonghyun hadn’t seen no. 12 around for over a week –although there was the one time when he had ducked into the stairwell to avoid bumping into the other man at the elevator. He hadn’t seen the boyfriend around either so maybe they had broken up. He didn’t know why that made him happy since it wasn’t as though he was going to make a move. Still, Jonghyun hadn’t liked the boyfriend. He was too good looking for his own good and knew it. He walked around the place like he owned it (Jonghyun had somehow managed to find out that he actually didn’t own the building or even live in it). Most of all, Jonghyun didn’t like the boyfriend because he’d caught Jonghyun watching them fucking and smirked as though he’d known Jonghyun was watching the whole time. It made him feel like an even bigger peeping tom than before.

     It also occurred to Jonghyun that he didn’t see no. 12 around because ‘of the creeper at no.6’. So he was caught completely unawares in the lobby when he saw lavender hair bouncing towards him. And like a fool, he ran away. He actually ran up seven floors, to his apartment, and locked himself in his room where he admonished himself for being a coward as well as a peeping tom.

     “Urgh! What’s wrong with me?” he whined flopping about on the bed. After a lengthy enumeration of the things he thought were wrong with him – his insomnia, his sensitivity, his cartoon fixation, his voyeurism, his cowardice  among others– he decided to have a hot shower. A healing session under his high pressure spray always did him good.

     After his shower, Jonghyun tip-toed towards the living room and peeked from behind his couch at the apartment across the way. He was standing there; no. 12 was by the window, hands on his hips, eyes trained on his apartment. And Dexter’s Laboratory was about to start. _Shit!_ No. 12 looked like he’d spent the evening at a club; he was dressed in black tight jeans, a see-through top with bondage type fixings, and his hair had smatterings of confetti and glitter. Jonghyun also noticed that the man was wearing eyeliner and this emphasized those feline like features.

     The phone on his intercom rang. Jonghyun froze. That phone was only ever used by building faculty and it must have been important that it was ringing at three o’clock in the morning. Still, he couldn’t get up to answer it because his lights were on and no. 12 would see him. So he let it go to voice mail. His heart dropped to the pit of his belly when he heard the voice on the recorder.

     “I know you’re there. I can see your head peeking behind your couch.”

      The guy at no. 12! And he remembered that the building’s directory could also be accessed through the intercom system.

      Jonghyun slid further down on the floor so that his head was no longer visible over the couch.

      “You just ducked your head,” the petulant voice said.

      The right thing for Jonghyun to do was get out of his hiding place and face his rightfully upset neighbor. But that’s not what he did. He crawled away to the light switch and sent the apartment into darkness.

      “Really? You know you can’t hide forever. We will run into each other at one point or another.”

       “Not if I can help it,” Jonghyun answered, childishly sticking his tongue out in the general direction of the window.

Avoiding the guy at no.12 was proving to be more inconvenient than Jonghyun anticipated. The man seemed to be hanging around whenever Jonghyun came and left the building. _Didn’t he have a job?_ Once, Jonghyun waited three hours outside the building because no. 12 had found a spot that allowed him a view of both entrances/exits. He decided to just puck up the courage and apologize to the man for the sake of his schedule.

       When he got into his apartment, he picked up the intercom phone and dialed the extension to no. 12. Jonghyun knew the other was still awake because the light in his apartment was still on.

       “Hello?” Jonghyun hesitated when the line picked up. “This is the person in the apartment across from you, no.6.”

       “Kim Jonghyun,” no. 12 retorted.

       Jonghyun flinched. Of course he’d know his name – it was in the directory. No. 12’s name was Kim Kibum. “Yeah. Listen, I wanted to apologize for…for…” he was looking for a kind word for what he had been doing.

       “Peeping?” Kibum offered.

       Jonghyun sighed. “Yeah. I’m sorry for peeping.” He looked at his window. His blinds were drawn closed, they had been the whole week; but somehow he knew that no. 12 was standing by his window, looking at his apartment.

       “I guess it’s alright…if you’re sorry.”

       Jonghyun thought he detected a hint of playfulness in the other’s voice but he couldn’t be sure. “Okay so then if we’re sorted, I’ll just let you go.”

       “Okay.”

       Jonghyun was confused by the disappointment in Kibum’s voice but hang up anyway. He was really tired and must have just imagined it.

 

       Jonghyun liked Thursdays best because they were his days off. He didn’t have to bother with aromatherapy to help him stick to his sleep schedule. So when he woke up at two in the afternoon, he didn’t groan or whine. He threw off the covers, turned on the music system as loud as he wanted. His building co-occupants were mostly young professionals so there was no one around at that time of day to complain about the volume. He even ventured on to the balcony in his boxers to stretch and catch some sun. No. 12 still hadn’t drawn his blinds despite their little incident. But it didn’t matter to Jonghyun just then. The apartment was empty during the day so Jonghyun danced around his apartment with abandon.  He hadn’t done it in a long time and wondered if that was how no. 12 must have felt before he had caught him.

      The song on the radio was pretty popular. It had a free-spirit theme about it – Americana, road trips, and kissing at sunset. It also had ‘la la la’ in the chorus and Jonghyun wondered if this was the song Kim Kibum had been dancing to that day. He tried to mimic the steps his neighbor did but found that he was making a mess of it. Something was tripping him up and he found out what it was when he looked up and met with feline eyes and a smirk.

       “ _An-yeong_!” he read the word no. 12’s pink lips.

       Jonghyun bit his lip and managed a small wave before scampering off to put on some clothes. Fully covered in sweat pants and a t-shirt, he casually walked into the kitchen to look at his fridge for a very long time. Kibum was on his mobile phone when he passed the window. He’d smiled at Jonghyun before turning his attention to whoever he was talking to.

       After his nose almost turned blue, Jonghyun pulled out a tub of Baskin Robbin’s Pistachio and Hazelnut ice-cream. He nonchalantly stalked over to his couch, ignoring Kibum’s penetrating stare as he turned on the TV.

       Eight minutes later, the phone on Jonghyun’s intercom rang. He turned his head to the window. Kibum was standing by his intercom phone, pointing for Jonghyun to answer his.

       “Hello?”

       “Hi! Why did you stop dancing? You looked really cute.”

       Jonghyun blushed and not just at the compliment. No. 12 was chuckling and the warm sound stirred something inside him. When it became apparent that Jonghyun wasn’t going to say anything, Kibum continued. “So what do you that you sleep all day?”

       “I’m a radio DJ. I work the graveyard shift,” Jonghyun answered naturally.

       “Oh! Good. For a while there I thought you were a vampire because you only came out at night,” Kibum laughed.

       Jonghyun laughed too. “I have insomnia so the graveyard shift works for me.”

       “Wait! You’re Kim Jonghyun from Blue Night?”

       “Yeah!” Jonghyun perked up. “You listen to the show?”

       “Oh God no!” Kibum replied.

       Jonghyun shot him a glare making Kibum chuckle again.

       “It’s just that I’m usually asleep when your show comes on,” Kibum explained, sliding onto his floor. Jonghyun mirrored him, missing the smug look on the other’s face. “I can’t you see,” Kibum said. “Your couch is blocking you. Move a bit to your left.”

      Jonghyun complied.

      "That’s much better,” Kibum cooed and Jonghyun ducked his head to hide his blush. “What kind of music do you play on your show?”

      Jonghyun looked up to answer, blush fading, “Mostly R’N’B.”

      “Baby making music,” Kibum interjected and Jonghyun blushed again. “How long have you had insomnia?”

      “Since high school, I guess,” he replied counting the years in his head.

      “That must suck,” Kibum sympathized.

      Jonghyun chuckled. “Not great for relationships but you get used to it.” He didn’t know why he said that. It was unnecessary but it was also true. His last relationship suffered a lot because of his insomnia. And it did suck because he really did love his Jinki- _hyung_.

      “How long were you watching me?”

       Jonghyun almost got whiplash from the sudden change of subject but he suspected that this was the main reason for the call. “Sorry about that - again” he said hiding half his face behind his hand.

       “I’m not angry. Really. I’m just curious as to how long you’ve lived here.”

       “Two months,” Jonghyun replied, peeking from behind his hand.

       “Two months!” Kibum shrieked. Then he just shrugged. “You must have seen a lot, then?”

       Jonghyun timidly admitted that he had. “Sorry,” he apologized again when a shadow passed over Kibum’s face. He was probably thinking about the fight he had with his boyfriend.

      The shadow passed quickly though and he was smiling again. “You don’t have to keep apologizing.”

An unintended silence descended between them where they just stared at each other. Jonghyun thought he heard Kibum mutter ‘ _Gwiyeo._ ’

      “What was that?”

      Kibum shook his head. “I said I hope I’m not keeping you up, your nocturnal activities and all.”

      Jonghyun’s brow furrowed. That was not what he had said. Still he answered, “I have the night off.”

      “Hey!” Kibum said suddenly standing up. “Wanna hang out tonight? There’s a pretty cool singer in Hongdae tonight. It would be fun! If you like her, you could even play her on the radio show– even though it’d just be the graveyard slot.”

      Jonghyun had to laugh at Kibum’s burst of energy, not offended by the jab at his time slot. He was doing rather well considering. “Sure,” he replied. It had been a while since he had been out and it would spare him the weekly ritual of hearing Minho’s litany of how he was wasting his youth.

 

      Jonghyun was actually looking forward to the _date?_ To the outing, he amended. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself. Plus Kibum had just broken up with his boyfriend. He didn’t need to be the rebound guy. But with the way Kibum was dressed it was understandable that he could be confused. He looked hot in red pants that hugged his body jealously -did the man own any loose pants? – and a stripped black and white soft cotton tee that showed off his pretty collarbones. His eye make-up was not as dramatic as the night of the confrontation but it still emphasized his eyes. His hair was arranged carelessly but it added to the entire look that left Jonghyun gaping.

      Kibum took the compliment with a cheeky wink. “You look nice,” he complimented Jonghyun in turn. Jonghyun looked down at his outfit. He was not one to complain about the tightness of Kibum’s clothes when he was wearing a pair of skinny black jeans. His grey graphic print sleeveless would have showed off his muscles if not for the white cardigan draped loosely on him. He ran his hand through his dark locks revealing the white strip hidden by his current hair style. Well at least he wouldn’t look odd standing with Kibum. And now that they were standing closer, Jonghyun noticed, with a tinge of irritation, that the man was taller than him.

      “You don’t mind walking, do you?” Kibum asked nervously.

      “Not even a little bit.”

      The smile Kibum flashed at him did weird things to his heart.

      Kibum had been right about the Hongdae artist. She had something of a cult following and Jonghyun could see why. Her voice was phenomenal and she wasn’t afraid to experiment with her sound. In the two hours they watched her perform, Jonghyun had heard folk, soul, alternative rock, jazz, 70’s pop. It was amazing and the energy around him had him lowering his inhibitions and dancing as though he was alone in his apartment. He’d missed this feeling a lot – anonymity afforded by a crowd.

      Kibum seemed to be enjoying himself as well but he was looking at Jonghyun a lot of the time. Jonghyun didn’t mind…not really, it was just that Kibum had seemed really excited about the artist and yet he wasn’t paying attention. Still, Jonghyun wanted to know with what gaze Kibum was favoring him with. There were three looks he liked: the one where something dumb has happened and the slightest of sneers tugs at his lips; the one where he’s smiling so hard his eyes disappear behind his cheeks; and his sex face – eyes twisted tight, mouth slightly open. It’s the second look that Jonghyun is met with when he chanced a glance. Jonghyun released his lower lip from the hold of his teeth and smiled. The face Kibum made then confused him; it was like a face trying to resist temptation. He even touched Jonghyun’s arm but then thought better of it and retracted it quickly.

 

      Jonghyun was maybe starting to regret going out. He was so wired up he was sure he wouldn’t be falling asleep for the next twelve hours. His blood was pulsing through his veins to the beat of the 70s pop song.

      “I’m glad you had a good time,” Kibum commented watching Jonghyun’s hand rhythmically bump against his thigh.

      Jonghyun looked around and saw that they were in the lobby of their apartment building. He hadn’t even noticed the walk home which must have been awful for Kibum because he’s sure he hadn’t said a word, jamming to the melody in his head.

      “I did,” Jonghyun replied. “Thanks!”

      “No worries. I had fun too.”

      It suddenly got weird and Kibum was looking kind of nervous.

_Why is he nervous?_

      “Well, I guess this is good night.”

      “I guess,” Jonghyun replied, heading off to the elevator bay for his side of the building. “Again thanks. We should do it again.”

      Kibum smiled but he seemed a little disappointed.

      When Jonghyun got to his apartment, he heard the ping of the messenger app. It was then that he realized why Kibum looked nervous. He’d wanted a kiss. But that couldn’t have been right, _could it?_ He looked at the kissing emoticon Minho had sent in response to his evidence of his Hongdae adventure – a selfie of him and Kibum with a partial street sign in the background.  Minho seemed to think that Jonghyun should have kissed him.

      He went to his window, drawing the blinds aside. Kibum was there, waiting for him. Jonghyun smiled and waved. Kibum lips moved, forming the word ‘an-yeong’.

      They looked at each other, letting the charge between them build up. Jonghyun thought he’d be the first to disturb whatever it was that was happening but it was Kibum with his ‘what now?’ look.

      “You could come over,” Jonghyun offered, blinking twice at his proposition. He found that he really wanted to have that kiss after all. So much for not being the rebound guy.

      Kibum cocked his head to one side, question on his face.

      Jonghyun remembered the intercom.

      “I said, you could come over,” he repeated when the other picked up.

      “I don’t want to watch cartoons,” Kibum flatly said. Apparently Jonghyun hadn’t been the only peeping tom.

      “I didn’t say anything about watching cartoons.”

      “Oh…oh!’ the second ‘oh’ had knowing behind it.

      When Jonghyun hang up the receiver, his bout of courage seemed to thin. But it was too late to back out, Kibum was at his door.

      “Hi!” Jonghyun waved again.

      Kibum looked amused. “You’ve said that already.”

      “Want a tour?” Jonghyun offered sheepishly. He wasn’t sure how to go about this.

      A flash of irritation flashed on Kibum’s face. “There’s time enough for that. I want you to kiss me.”

      Kibum’s directness stunned him temporarily but he recovered in time so that the pause was not awkward. He crushed his lips against the others in a bruising kiss. Kibum sighed into the kiss though, hands running up Jonghyun’s chest and sliding down his arms taking the white cardigan along with them.

      “I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” he said tossing it aside.

      “Really?” Jonghyun smirked. “You’ve wanting to get me undressed.”

      “Don’t get cocky,” Kibum rebuked him, pushing back against him till he fell over onto the couch.

      Jonghyun must have looked surprised or frightened because Kibum asked, “Is this okay?”

      Jonghyun nodded, throat suddenly dry from the fierceness that had been in Kibum’s eye just a second ago. The worry left Kibum's face and was replaced by smugness. Jonghyun had to remind himself to breathe as he watched Kibum crawl atop of him, knee brushing between Jonghyun thighs, smiling at what he felt there.

      The second kiss was softer than the first. Kibum took control of the pace, sucking on Jonghyun’s bottom lip then the top. The third kiss was deeper than the second. Kibum’s tongue tangoed with Jonghyun's, his body pressing down in an attempt for more access. His cock twitched at the sound of Jonghyun’s moan and he pulled back, expletive on his tongue.

      “Is it okay if we do more than kiss?” he asked, brushing aside the bangs that had fallen over Jonghyun’s eyes.

      “Hmm?” Jonghyun hummed dreamily.

      “I want to fuck,” Kibum said flatly.

      Jonghyun’s vision came into focus. Kibum was looking at him through lashes and purple hair. “What – what about your boyfriend?” he asked. He knew he was stalling. He at least wanted to say that he resisted even for five seconds.

      “You already know we broke up,” Kibum replied, planting a wet kiss on Jonghyun’s neck. “Unless, that’s your polite way of saying no.”

      “No,” Jonghyun said. Kibum pulled back. “I mean,” Jonghyun added, reaching for the other’s arm. “I don’t want to be the rebound guy.” He looked away as he said it.

      “ _Gwiyeo_ ,” Kibum muttered and Jonghyun pouted at him. Kibum tugged at the pout with his teeth. “Taemin was a rebound and we lasted two years,” Kibum said referring to his ex. “Who knows how long you and I will last but what I do know is that I want you. Do you want me?” He pinned Jonghyun with a gaze that begged him to say yes.

      “I do. I want you,” Jonghyun replied.

      Kibum kissed him. “Then the rest is just exposition.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a lot sweeter than I intended. I envisioned all kinds of kinky voyeur situations but I guess I'm all 'smut-ed' out.


End file.
